A/HRC/7/3/Add.6 page 9 a ceasefire agreement (CFA) with the LTTE. Despite the CFA, fighting carried on, and after resuming control over the Jaffna Peninsula, government forces in 2007 also regained control over the eastern provinces, which had been under LTTE control. The Vanni area in the north of the country is, however, still under the overall control of the LTTE. 15. On 2 November 2007, S.P. Thamilselvan, the head of the LTTE’s political wing and representative in negotiations for the LTTE, was killed in an air raid. A few weeks later, a bomb attack in Colombo attributed to the LTTE cost the lives of 21 civilians. In the aftermath of this attack, government forces arrested more than 2,200 Tamils, of which 2,000 were released in the following days. Another blast carried out in Colombo killed four members of the Sri Lankan army. 16. It is widely reported that, during the battles over control of the east, government forces made tactical use of the TMVP-Karuna group. Consisting of approximately one quarter of the former LTTE cadres, the Karuna group has conducted many ambushes and killings of LTTE cadres, political representatives and supporters. It is also considered responsible for abductions, torture and killings of civilians and has established a reign of terror over a large part of the civilian population living in the eastern provinces. Reliable sources told the Special Rapporteur that no police action was taken against members of the TMVP-Karuna group, which was later confirmed by a TMVP representative. Meanwhile, Colonel Karuna was arrested in London and sentenced on 25 January 2008 to nine months’ imprisonment for possession of a false passport. There are calls for his prosecution under universal jurisdiction for war crimes, including recruitment of child soldiers, summary executions, and torture.3 17. In January 2008, the Government formally withdrew from the CFA following a number of recent bomb attacks, part of a series of incidents causing numerous civilian and military casualties attributed to the LTTE. Even before this withdrawal, with the CFA still in force, the monitoring mechanism established under it, SLMM, reported numerous violations of the agreement on both sides.4 The SLMM subsequently terminated its monitoring operations on 16 January 2008. 3 The Government invited the Special Rapporteur to direct his attention to the conditions of detention in the British maximum-security facility in which Colonel Karuna is currently detained. It reported that the presence of several LTTE suspects in close proximity to this individual have, according to news reports, given rise to allegations of mistreatment and torture there. The Government invited the Special Rapporteur to consider inquiring into the circumstances of his detention in such a hazardous environment. 4 The Government reported that the SLMM (during its mandated term of office) reported a number of violations of the CFA by members of the LTTE which was several times the number of violations said to have been committed by the Government or its armed services.